AB5 (2019) added a bunch of exceptions allowing contractor designations to rules restricting designation of employees as “contractors” resulting from the California Supreme Court’s application of pre-existing law; either the court decision “destroyed the freelance/contractor market” or nothing did, since what AB5 did was loosen the rules.
To address your sibling comment, you will have trouble if the contractors work is directed, which it often is.
To address the grand parent, yes I'm aware of it and why I made the post. The work continues in spite of the law. Another wrinkle is Uncle Sam being the plaintiff. Should ask on Lawyer News I guess.
(Am limited to a few comments per hour, so need to conserve them.)
Software contractors don’t have their own special exception, but would often fall within the Business Service Provider exception; some software contractoes (web designers hired through referral agencies, specifically) would fall into the exceptions for certain workers hired through referral agencies.
And, of course, because of the Supremacy Clause, direct relations with the federal government are not governed by state labor laws, in any case.